MINNEAPOLIS – It was a natural follow to Wisconsin. Another performance marked by a promising first act and a disappointing second.

Until suddenly, it wasn’t anymore. Indiana refused to allow it. Indiana grew up a little, and won because of it.

The Hoosiers landed coach Archie Miller’s first Big Ten road win Saturday, 75-71 at Minnesota, in a game less pretty than productive. Robert Johnson (28), Juwan Morgan (20) and Justin Smith (20) combined to score all but seven of their team’s points, sending IU home from the frigid north a winner.

“Most of the games, we’ve been right there in the last four (minutes), and it’s just those last couple turnovers or open 3s that we give to the other team that have really been hurting us,” Morgan said postgame. “We really capitalized and didn’t have those today, and as a result, we got the win.”

If the Hoosiers (9-7, 2-2) deserved their criticism following Tuesday’s 10-point loss at Wisconsin — and they did — then they more than earned their praise Saturday night.

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IU Insider Zach Osterman recaps the Hoosiers' 75-71 win at Minnesota, a victory less pretty than productive, and coach Archie Miller's first on the road in Big Ten play.
Zach Osterman/IndyStar

Depleted Minnesota still presented plenty of threat, with Jordan Murphy landing a record-tying 17th-straight double-double to start the season, and Nate Mason knocking down big shots.

Indiana had to deal with its own absences. Sophomore forward De’Ron Davis watched from the sideline, his foot in a walking boot, his season now uncertain. Senior forward Collin Hartman sat out with a sore shoulder.

Without them, Miller’s players looked like a sharpened bunch. Morgan described a “huge sense of urgency” and a “next-man-up mentality." Whether it’s sustainable is another discussion, but it produced undeniable results against the Golden Gophers (13-4, 2-2).

“Today, everybody was a little bit pinned in the corner. We knew we were in some trouble with some guys down,” Miller said. “Every team’s a little bit different, but it does show you how together you are, and how tough you are, and how ready you are.”

No one was more ready than Smith, IU’s highest-ranked signee in the 2017 class Miller inherited from Tom Crean.

Smith has endured a stop-and-start freshman season to this point. He posted a double-double in his second college game, and scored 10 in a start in the loss at Seton Hall. But after playing double-digit minutes in each of IU’s first six games, he broke 10 only one time in the next nine, before getting a start Saturday in place of Davis.

“He didn’t play like a freshman today,” Morgan said simply.

Smith scored 20, and spent many of his 26 minutes guarding Murphy on defense.

There might not be a better two-way player in the Big Ten, and Murphy still got his double-double. But he needed 14 field goal attempts to score 18 points, and missed two critical shots late — a free throw that handed IU the chance to seal the game, and a wild jumper on a frantic last Minnesota possession.

“He’s a tough cover,” Miller said of Murphy. “Justin did a good job as a true freshman playing against maybe the premier guy in our league right now.”

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IU coach Archie Miller makes an opening statement following his team's 75-71 win at Minnesota, Miller's first on the road in Big Ten play.
Zach Osterman/IndyStar

If Smith was the revelation, Morgan and Johnson were the rocks.

From the game’s beginning, IU’s two best upperclassmen atoned for what was roundly agreed upon as a disappointing performance at Wisconsin. Morgan even told Miller this week he didn’t feel like his 17-point performance in Madison was adequate. Indiana’s 6-7 forward followed that pronouncement with a double-double Saturday, outplaying Murphy and knocking down three 3-pointers for good measure.

“He was disappointed after the Wisconsin game,” Miller said. “He didn’t feel he was very aggressive in that game, and he didn’t feel like he got the job done, which was good to hear coming from him. But he was ready today.”

Johnson’s struggles have run deeper, making his Minnesota performance all the more welcome.

A four-year starter who broke 1,000 career points this winter, Johnson hasn’t quite been able to find his best so far. He has struggled with turnovers, and to dial in his usually reliable 3-point shot.

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Miller repeatedly challenges his backcourt as a whole to be more aggressive and more careful with the ball. That challenge has always felt directed as much at Johnson as anyone, and Miller saw Saturday as repayment for Johnson’s hard work in the last two months.

Among his 28 points were three 3-pointers and five free throws, including a handful that iced the game. Johnson handed out seven assists and committed three turnovers.

“Rob stepped up. Six defensive rebounds is really big,” Miller said, highlighting another impactful number from a busy stat line. “He had big finishes there at the end, big free throws. That’s what a senior does.”

The individual performances were just part of the whole, though. It was as a team that Indiana buried Tuesday’s Wisconsin disappointment and replaced it with Miller’s first league road win.

As at Wisconsin, Indiana held a narrow lead at halftime Saturday. As at Wisconsin, Indiana began the second half by giving it back and then some.

When Minnesota turned a 31-30 deficit into a 48-40 lead less than five minutes into the second half, Miller didn’t call timeout. He didn’t need to. Indiana stopped the bleeding, cut the turnovers and rallied. Out of the first media timeout of the second half, the Hoosiers trailed by eight. By the second media timeout, they were down just two, and by the third, only one.

“Winning, four by four,” Morgan called it. Something the Hoosiers have so often struggled to do this year, whether because of a defensive breakdown, or a turnover, or a sequence of slack offensive possessions.

For one night, anyway, they put that away. They still struggled through spells, because this is an imperfect team in transition. But they found their way together, in the kind of game where they so often have not this season.

“We just knew, the show doesn’t stop because we’re missing a few actives,” Morgan said. “We have to keep going, and as we did that, we just stuck together and kept winning, four by four.